Its not the directors “personal fault.” But they enjoy the privilege of an uneven playing field: and if they have to squirm for a couple of seconds on camera I don’t feel sorry for them one bit. 2% of hollywood blockbusters are directed by women. There have been 442 people nominated for best director at the Oscars in 82 years: only 5 have been women and only 1 has won.
The ACLU have been investigating discriminatory hiring practices in Hollywood since 2015. Can you imagine another industry where 50% of (film school) graduates are women, but only 2% get the top jobs?
#metoo has shone a huge spotlight on just part of the problem in Hollywood. Hollywood was built on the back of discriminatory hiring practices: of men hiring more men. The problems aren’t going to fix themselves. If men in the industry: if directors like Del Toro and Scott and Spielberg aren’t willing to put their privilege on the line to open up opportunities for women in the industry, then I’m not going to feel bad if they look awkward on camera for a few seconds.
Is there any reason the accusers should have been invited? I mean, it would have been a nice gesture, but unless they had a connection to a nominated work, they had no reason to be there.
Natalie Portman has been outspoken about women’s right since-for-fucking-ever. She didn’t jump on any bandwagon. There was nothing classless about this. Do you know what is classless? The way Hollywood treats women.
There was a lot of (quieter) nervous laughter when Seth Meyers threw out the first Weinstein jokes. Hollywood still afraid of him? I wouldn’t be surprised. Smart money says he will (eventually) make a comeback. Seems like they all do.
I definitely noticed that during Frances McDormand’s speech - they were really quick on the button thinking she was going to swear. I noticed they bleeped her for “Fox Searchlight” and again when I think she said “shift.”
Why does the fact that they’re not in the industry make them meaningless? Sure the Oscars and the Guilds mean more in terms of industry recognition, but outside recognition isn’t meaningless. I have a friend who is a voting member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and he is a journalist/photographer who writes about movies, writes reviews and photographs filmmakers and actors for Italian publications. He’s a fun guy but he takes his job very seriously. He loves movies and takes them and his voting privileges seriously.
They’re not IN the industry but neither are the Broadcast critics, and they have their own awards show. The Hollywood FOREIGN PRESS Association do, in essence, what the New York Film Critics or the Salt Lake City Film Critics or the Miami Film Critics or a hundred others do, except that they’re mostly from countries where English is not their first language, and, like my friend, they may write about movies and the entertainment industry too rather than just review movies. And OK, they have a televised awards show. So what? They still bring attention to movies and performances that deserve attention (and TV too, but I don’t care about TV).
Another difference is that HFPA, a non-profit entity, raises a lot of money for worthy causes, such as film preservation.
“Golden Globes Chatter Muted as HFPA Hands Out $2.8 Million in Grants”
I didn’t watch the Golden Globes this year but my friend was probably running around on the red carpet because he was in charge of all the photographers.
They spoofed this very thing on SNL over the weekend, with Kate McKinnon playing FM. She said something to the effect of " I’m not cussing; it’s just the tone of my voice".